Strong
by jls62113
Summary: Daryl and Maggie have their first conversation after reuniting. She makes a request of him. Tissue required.


"Everybody's here now. Our family. They took Daryl away that night, but Jesus helped get him out, and he's here now too. He thinks what he did is the reason you can't be here with us. Negan tried to destroy us, but we're still here."

She stood up and wiped the dirt from her pants. She looked down at the rocks that served as a headstone and liked them better than just a stick in the ground. Tears slid down her face and she quickly wiped them away. Everyone felt bad enough without seeing her tears. As she turned to walk away, she looked up and saw Daryl walking slowly toward her. The only communication they had until this point was done through Jesus. She smiled sadly at him and watched his face fighting the urge to cry.

"Hey."

"Hey." His voice was barely a whisper.

She went to him and stood before him. His whole body shook as he stood there.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled.

She shook her head at him while she looked in his eyes. Daryl stood there and erupted into great sobs. Maggie put her arms around him and held him fighting sobs of her own.

"You did nothing wrong. Your instinct is to protect us, and that is never wrong. When they took you away it was like they were taking away another piece of my heart. I prayed for you and here you are. When I heard your motorcycle and then saw you riding through that gate, I got you back."

She pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes.

"I miss him Daryl, but I don't blame you for what a madman did. I blame Negan and we'll get him. Our energy needs to go into destroying him, not feeling sorry for ourselves."

He nodded and took a deep breath, grateful that she was doing better than he thought she would be. He thought of her father just then and the strength he had. She had it too.

"When we got here, Sasha buried them here." She said turning toward the graves of Glenn and Abraham. "Gregory told us they don't bury their dead, they burn them."

"Before you met Glenn, I wanted to burn our dead, he told me that our dead should be buried. He was right, but he frustrated the hell out of me then."

"Me too at first."

Maggie smiled remembering when she first met Glenn.

"I don't know what they did to you at Negan's. They had to have tried to break you, but you're strong, stronger than any of us. I could tell you had gone through some things even before this. Things I'm sure we can't begin to imagine."

He had gone through worse than what Negan and his men put him through. It was child's play compared to what his father and brother put him through every day for years.

"I never told you this, but you should know how much you are loved here with us. I guess if you didn't know that, you never would have stayed with us."

He didn't comment, but shrugged and looked out at the wall that surrounded the Hilltop.

"Are you okay Maggie?"

"I am. You wanna see a picture of the baby?"

"Nah." He said looking at her. "I didn't know what I was looking at when I saw the first one."

Nonetheless, Maggie whipped the sonogram picture out of her pocket and despite his subtle objection, pointed out the head and limbs of the baby.

"I remember you holding Judith and feeding her. You're a natural."

Daryl reluctantly took the picture in his hand and started to feel guilty because Glenn wouldn't get to see his baby.

"I can't wait to hear the nickname you come up with."

She saw the sad smile on his face.

"Daryl, I have something I want you to do for me, and you can't say no."

He was both curious and suspicious of what she was about to ask.

"I want you to be my baby's Godfather."

Daryl inhaled a shaky breath.

"What's that?" He asked squinting in her direction.

"A person appointed by the parents to stand in for them. If for some reason I'm not around and a decision has to be made about my child, you'd be the one to make it."

Daryl shook his head.

"I ain't no parent. Why don't you ask Rick?"

"I want you. I'm not asking you Daryl. I'm telling you. This is what I want."

The firmness and finality of what she was saying made him realize he had no choice.

"I know you would watch after my baby the way you would Carl and Judith. Whatever he needed, you would get it. If he was in trouble, you'd risk your life to save him. Just as his father would. Going forward I'm going to need that. I'm going to need you."

He wiped the tears off his cheeks and looked at Maggie.

"If that's what you want."

"That's what I want."

He nodded and put his arms around her.

"Okay."


End file.
